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I grew up surrounded by various musical genres. Big band and classical when I was with my grandparents and then Rock and Disco (yikes) when I was with my parents. That fully Disco went by the wayside and more Pop type music entered the household.

It wasn’t until later on in life I could look back from where I am today to see what influenced me to what I listen to. Looking back was fun and brought a smile to my face. I dug up some old songs and shared them with my kids. It was funny to see their reaction to music that forms the story of my life.

Back in the day you could listen to the radio or swap cassette tapes with people to hear something new and exciting. That is all but gone now. All you need is a computer with an internet connection and away you go. Let the exploration for music begin.

Having lived in other countries I always enjoy listening to radio stations I listened to. It brings a smile to my face when I am listening to radio from Holland. Not only is the music good but the commercials remind of the good times I had there.

I know I am a little late but welcome to 2018. I have some ideas bouncing around my head for some posts that I hope to put together this week. That is barring any distractions. Such as my wife’s Windows 8.1 machine deciding to start to freeze up and restart uncommanded. That should eat up some of my free time.

So, this was just a quick note. I hope that my next post, which will probably have to do with music will be longer and have greater substance.

Usually this is a pretty good time of year for sports watching for me. I stress “usually” as the Colts are horrible and only appear to be destined to get a high draft pick from their performance this season. More on that later. The Blackhawks have always been exciting and entertaining to watch the last 7 years or so. This season they are really struggling. So, I can always go with option 3, right? Well, the college football option is not making me jump around with excitement either. The Longhorns are in the beginning of rebuild with a new coaching staff and players inherited from the previous staff.

As I struggled to watch the Colts this season I noticed that no matter who is in at QB the playbook looks like a Sega Genesis video game playbook is being used. Nothing creative and certainly no mis-direction in hopes of utilizing the players you have on the field. This offensive line will get yet another QB hurt and let’s be honest, it cannot block for any RB that they put in the back field. I wish they would have traded Frank Gore anyway in hopes of getting some draft picks and allowing him not to suffer through this. I would really like to see this entire staff gone at the end of the season, if not earlier for the head coach.

I along with so many other Blackhawks fans hoped that with bringing back Sadd and Sharp the team would jump right back into a certain consistent groove. So far in this young season it has not been that way at all. With the youth movement on the blue line there appears to be progress in the positive direction. The same can’t be said about the offensive side of the equation. With a team of talented veterans and very capable youngsters one would think that there would be decent production. Not true in this case. The offensive production of the Blackhawks did not only drop, I think it may be below ground. So, Coach Q has turned on the line blender once again. Way earlier then normal from my perspective. If things don’t turn around in the couple of weeks I will be extremely disappointed.

For those who have listened or currently listen to shortwave radio know that the number of shortwave radio stations has gotten smaller. Not only that but many broadcasters have cut back their number of areas they are trying to target.

Many people read many people in Australia became quite upset when services were cut within their own country. Many people complained that these radio service was a vital source of information. It is unfortunate that many governments and companies are losing sight of the importance of shortwave radio. While the internet is nice, it does not work in all situations.

It is quite amazing that over the 4th of July there was plenty of activity on the shortwave bands. With North Korea test launching a “ICBM” they were more than happy to brag about it on the limited broadcast schedule that they have.

The South Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese were all broadcasting their concerns of what appears to be happening in North Korea. It was eye opening to learn that he has tested missiles 17 times since taking power. That is more that is father, the previous ruler, tested during his entire time in power.

I do a fair amount of traveling and camping as well. This allows me to do a little shortwave radio listening. While there are not as many stations operational today as there once were it is still interesting to listen to people from around the word.

I have a couple of smaller radios that are about 1/16th the size of the radio that got me interested in the hobby in the first place, the radio shack DX-100. Growing up I used to go to a small barber shop where they had a DX-100 that I could listen to when I would go in to get my haircut. Who would have ever thought that something so small would have such an impact on me.

So, I am going to get back to listening and enjoying a station from New Zealand.

Well, after another stalled start to keeping my blog up to date I am at it again. I really need this outlet to speak my mind and improve my writing. Sometimes my mind works faster than my fingers. I have to work on it.

We are in the middle of a heat wave. Thankfully I can come home from work and jump into the pool. While the pool is a little warm by swim standards it does cool you down. You even feel a little cold when you get out.

Hopefully our temperatures will drop about 10 degrees in the near future. That make is easier on all of us. Well, that does not look like it is going to happen any time soon.

About 3 years ago I decided to change to 1 and 1 as my blog host. Everything was running smooth, that was until I decided to run a WordPress update. Then my blog became corrupted and unusable. Their customer support was less then helpful to say the least. I was told at least twice by 1 and 1 support that my domain was not pointing to my WordPress blog. How funny, run an update and it crashes your blog. It is quite disappointing that this is what a host has become. Give us your money and we will give you little to nothing.